2 Supervisors Want Jail Tax Submitted to Voters Again

Still seeking the money to build critically needed courts and jails, two San Diego County supervisors are proposing to again ask voters for approval of a special half-cent sales tax that would generate hundreds of millions of dollars.

Unlike the the 1988 ballot proposition that was ruled unconstitutional by the California Supreme Court last year, the measure proposed for the fall ballot would require a two-thirds majority for passage--a total that will be difficult to attain.

The Board of Supervisors will consider the issue today, when it takes up a proposal by Supervisors George Bailey and Susan Golding to seek special legislation authorizing the ballot measure.

“The only responsible course of action for our community at this point is to give voters an opportunity to authorize the needed resources in the only way which the state Constitution presently permits--a special tax requiring approval of two-thirds of the voters,” the two supervisors wrote in a joint letter to the full board.

In a 5-2 ruling issued Dec. 19, the state Supreme Court invalidated the 1988 half-cent sales tax that had been approved by a bare majority of the county’s voters. The court said that the terms of the measure violated Proposition 13’s requirement that special taxes receive two-thirds voter approval.

The rejection of the measure, which would have raised $1.6 billion during its 10-year life span, was a fiscal catastrophe for the county, whose bulging jails and dilapidated courthouses require costly repair and expansion.

The newly proposed ballot measure would not include creation of a special agency to administer the funds. The makeup of the San Diego County Regional Justice Facility Financing Agency, which the court said is essentially controlled by the county, was a key element in the judges’ rejection of the county’s claim that it needed just a simple majority approval of the tax.

The sales tax has been repealed, but no decision has been made by a lower court on how to dispose of $340 million collected before the levy was ruled unconstitutional. The county is hoping to spend the money. Libertarian Party activists, who filed the lawsuit, want the funds rebated to taxpayers.

Bailey and Golding were unavailable for comment Monday. Dana Quittner, Bailey’s chief of staff, said that research and brainstorming since the Supreme Court decision convinced Bailey that the county had no option but to seek voter approval again.

In 1986, when a two-thirds vote was required, just 50.7% of the electorate approved the new sales tax. In June, 1988, 50.6% voted for it.

“They’ll never get two-thirds. No way,” said Lewis Wenzell, one of the attorneys who represented the Libertarian group.

“Everybody knows there’s lots of money and they’re spending it to buy votes for themselves and not on criminal justice,” Wenzell added. “Everybody knows the money’s there. It’s just a question of how you prioritize it.”

But Rich Robinson, the county’s director of special projects, said the county cannot hope to build or operate the criminal justice facilities it needs without the new tax or a major infusion of new cash.

“Absent some substitute form of new revenue or significant participation from the municipalities in this region, nothing is going to approach what we need to address,” Robinson said.

Quittner estimated that a half-cent sales tax would generate about $100 million annually. Robinson put the total at $150 million to $160 million, or about what the 1988 tax was expected to yield.

Bailey has not proposed any specifics on how long the tax would be in effect, Quittner said.

Counties generally have the authority to place special taxes requiring a two-thirds vote on the ballot without state approval, Wenzell said. But, because the legislation that authorized the 1988 tax is still on the books, county attorneys believe they need an updated act of the Legislature to propose a new ballot measure, Robinson said.